Scottish Executive

Bankruptcy

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many postgraduate students have declared themselves bankrupt in each year since 1995.

Mr Jim Wallace: Information on the number of debtors subject to sequestration proceedings who are postgraduates is not held centrally.

Bankruptcy

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) personal and (b) company bankruptcies there were in each of the last three years for which records are available.

Hugh Henry: The Accountant in Bankruptcy publishes the information in the agency's annual report which can be accessed at www.aib.gov.uk .

Bridges

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will announce confirmation of the Montrose Bridge scheme, as required under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984.

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons are for delay in dealing with the Montrose Bridge scheme and what outstanding issues remain to be resolved.

Nicol Stephen: The Montrose Bridge scheme was confirmed on 11 March 2004.

Chiropody

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the difference is between service redesign and rationing in relation to chiropody treatment.

Malcolm Chisholm: Successful service redesign across NHSScotland is essential if patients' needs are to be met in a sustainable way. The issue of access to NHS chiropody services is a matter for clinical decision in the light of the health needs of individual patients. The planning and provision of NHS services is a matter for NHS boards.

Chiropody

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the eligibility criteria are for people to be entitled to free chiropody care.

Malcolm Chisholm: The planning and provision of NHS services is a matter for NHS boards. The issue of access to NHS chiropody services is a matter for clinical decision in the light of the health needs of individual patients.

Chiropody

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients in each NHS board area have been removed from NHS chiropody lists in each of the last six years.

Malcolm Chisholm: Information on the number of patients removed from NHS chiropody lists is not available centrally.

Chiropody

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what provision has been made for the foot care of those who have been removed from NHS chiropody lists.

Malcolm Chisholm: The planning and provision of NHS services is a matter for NHS boards. The issue of access to NHS chiropody services is a matter for clinical decision in the light of the health needs of individual patients.

Chiropody

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive which NHS boards operate a preventative screening programme for schoolchildren, through their podiatry departments, to examine abnormal gait as a causal factor in osteoarthritis, back pain and posture-related disorders.

Malcolm Chisholm: This information is not held centrally.

Chiropody

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the ability to pay is taken into account in removing elderly patients from NHS chiropody care lists.

Malcolm Chisholm: No.

Civil Servants

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many of its civil servants have (a) moved and (b) been seconded to public service posts outwith the Executive in each of the last five years, expressed also as a percentage of the number of its civil servants.

Mr Andy Kerr: The available information requested can be found in the following tables:

  Table A: Scottish Executive Staff whose Reason for Resignation was a Move To a Public Sector Post Outwith The Scottish Executive

  

 

Apr 1999 to Mar 2000

Apr 2000 to Mar 2001

Apr 2001 to Mar 2002

Apr 2002 to Mar 2003

Mar 2003 to Feb 2004



Number of staff

276

32

37

57

45



% leavers

4.3

0.5

0.5

0.8

0.6



  Table B: Scottish Executive Staff who Have Been Seconded To a Public Sector Post Outwith The Scottish Executive

  



Apr 1999 to Mar 2000

Apr 2000 to Mar 2001

Apr 2001 to Mar 2002

Apr 2002 to Mar 2003

Mar 2003 to Feb 2004



Number of staff on secondment

45

22

19

36

48



% staff on secondment

0.7

0.3

0.3

0.5

0.6

Dentistry

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of dental costs dentists recover annually from charges.

Mr Tom McCabe: Patients are required to pay 80% of the cost of their NHS dental treatment up to a set maximum per course of treatment (currently £372), unless they fall into one of the groups entitled to exemption or remission from NHS charges.

Earnings

Mr Ted Brocklebank (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average gross (a) weekly earnings were in Fife in 2003 and (b) annual earnings have been in Fife in each of the last five years.

Mr Jim Wallace: Average gross weekly earnings in Fife in 2003 (a) were £409.70.

  Average gross annual earnings in Fife in each of the last five years (b) are shown in the table:

  


Year

Annual Earnings



1999

£17,228



2000

£17,938



2001

£19,115



2002

£20,098



2003

£20,468

Education

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to roll out the joint campus schools initiative across Scotland.

Peter Peacock: Local authorities are responsible for the provision of schools. It is for them to consider whether joint campus facilities are appropriate, in consultation with local communities, parents, schools and church representatives. We will support such proposals where they are in the best interests of pupils, and take account of local circumstances and views.

Fisheries

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many successful prosecutions there have been against operators of fishing vessels in the last five years in respect of actions in their capacity as operators of fishing vessels.

Allan Wilson: The number of successful prosecutions obtained in Scottish courts against either the master and/or the owners of fishing vessels for breaches of fishing regulations in the last five financial years was as follows:

  


Year

Number



1998-99

80



1999-2000

55



2000-01

56



2001-02

62



2002-03

58

Football

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much money has been distributed in grant aid by the Scottish Football Partnership and to which organisations.

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the £6 million fund operated by the Scottish Football Partnership has been distributed.

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken by the Scottish Football Partnership to assist in the development of football.

Mr Frank McAveety: The Scottish Football Partnership is not in a position to begin supporting the development of Scottish football until the legal complications affecting the transfer of funds from the Football Stadia Improvement Fund have been resolved.

Forestry Commission

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there will be a triennial review of the Forestry Commission and, if so, when the review will commence, what the membership of the review panel will be and what the structure of the review will be.

Allan Wilson: The Forestry Commission is a cross border public authority, and is not subject to triennial review.

  Forestry Commission Scotland, which serves as the Executive's forestry department, was set up following the recommendations of the forestry devolution review on 1 April 2003. At the same time Forest Enterprise, which was originally set up as an Executive agency on 1 April 1996 with a Great Britain remit, was trisected on 1 April 2003 to create separate agencies in Scotland, England and Wales.

  Following a review of the appropriate status for Forest Enterprise in Scotland, Ministers decided that continuation as an Executive agency of Forestry Commission Scotland was the most appropriate course of action. A draft framework document will shortly be submitted to ministers.

  The framework document will be reviewed by the national committee no later than 31 March 2007.

Further and Higher Education

Mr Ted Brocklebank (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of Fife school leavers entered higher or further education in each of the last five years.

Peter Peacock: The information requested for the last three years can be found in Table 4 of News Release Destinations of Leavers from Scottish Schools: 2002-03, published by the Scottish Executive on 10 December 2003, and for the two preceding years in Table 4 of Destinations of Leavers from Scottish Schools: 2001-02, published on 18 December 2002. Copies of the above are available in the Parliament's reference centre. (Bib. numbers: 25743 (2001-02) and 30281 (2002-03).

General Practitioners

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what processes and procedures are followed once interview committees have made recommendations on who should fill a vacancy for a single GP practice and, in particular, how and when these are referred to the Scottish Medical Practices Committee, how and when they are referred to Scottish Ministers for a final decision, what criteria are used for endorsing these recommendations at each stage of the process and what role is played by NHS trusts and boards.

Malcolm Chisholm: Where more than one application is received from medical practitioners for a general practice vacancy by a NHS board it is required to select the candidate it wishes to be referred to the Scottish Medical Practices Committee. The National Health Service (General Medical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995 apply. It is open to a board to establish its own committee to consider applications, and, where appropriate, to interview candidates. The regulations require the board to forward the selected application to the Scottish Medical Practices Committee once the period for appeals by any doctor whose application has not been selected has expired without any appeal being made.

  The Committee is required by the regulations to grant the application which has been selected by the board. Cases do not come before ministers except where there is an appeal. The selection of candidates is a matter for the board and the criteria which the regulations lay down are that the board shall have regard to any desire expressed by an applicant to practise with other general practitioners in the locality or as an additional doctor who may be required in the area or any desire expressed by other doctors in the locality to take any applicant into practice with them. The board shall have special regard to these matters in cases where any applicant is a relative of a general practitioner in the locality.

General Practitioners

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish a review of the National Health Service (General Medical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995 and, if so, when such a review will be published.

Malcolm Chisholm: It is proposed that the National Health Service (General Medical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995 be revoked on 1 April 2004 when the National Health Service (Primary Medical Services Performers' Lists) (Scotland) Regulations 2004, which are to be laid before the Parliament, come into effect to implement the new contract for general practitioners.

General Practitioners

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what role patients should have in the filling of vacancies in single GP practices.

Malcolm Chisholm: The filling of any general practice vacancy is taken forward in terms of the NHS (General Medical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995. No specific role for patients is set out in the regulations but it is open to NHS boards, when they are required to select a candidate where more than one application is received, to take account of the views of patients or patient groups.

General Practitioners

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria are used for deciding the outcome of appeals against recommendations by interviewing committees for applications to fill vacancies in single GP practices.

Malcolm Chisholm: Any appeal to the Scottish Ministers by a doctor who is not selected by a NHS board for a general practice vacancy must be on a point of law.

General Practitioners

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) process and procedure are and (b) timescale is for appeals against recommendations by interviewing committees for applications to fill vacancies in single GP practices.

Malcolm Chisholm: The National Health Service (General Medical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995 provide that any doctor who is not selected by a NHS board to fill a general practice vacancy may appeal to the Scottish Ministers on a point of law. Such appeals may be determined summarily or an advocate or solicitor may be appointed by ministers to hear the case and report to them before their decision is reached. If any appeal is allowed by ministers the matter will be remitted to the board which will be given such directions as they consider desirable to ensure the proper determination of the application. Other than the period of 21 days for the making of an appeal the regulations do not set out any timescale for such appeals or any stage of them.

General Practitioners

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is in respect of the advertising of vacancies for single GP practices; how often, and where, such vacancies are advertised, and how long should be allowed for potential applicants to respond to such adverts.

Malcolm Chisholm: The National Health Service (General Medical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995 provide that any notice of a general practice vacancy shall be published by a NHS board in such a manner that it considers will bring the vacancy to the attention of prospective applicants from outside its area. The notice must include details of the nature of the practice, its location and the period determined by the board for the submission of applications. In publishing a notice of vacancy the board should take account of any directions given by the Scottish Medical Practices Committee.

General Practitioners

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many vacancies in single GP practices have been advertised in each NHS board area in each of the last five years.

Malcolm Chisholm: The National Health Service (General Medical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995 set out the procedures to fill general practice vacancies. It is open to any registered medical practitioner to apply for such a vacancy. The regulations require the NHS board to describe the details of the practice in a notice of vacancy and these will include whether the out-going GP practised alone. They also provide that any applicant may indicate whether he or she, if selected, intends to practise with other doctors and so any practice which was vacated by a single-handed GP may become part of a group practice.

  Information on the number of vacancies which arose in single GP practices is not available. The total number of vacancies which have been filled in the last five years for which information is available is as follows:

  


Year

Number



1998

183



1999

189



2000

208



2001

183



2002

213

Higher Education

Mike Pringle (Edinburgh South) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many students study Russian at Scottish universities.

Mr Jim Wallace: In 2001-02 there were 92 students studying Russian in higher education institutions in Scotland.

Highlands and Islands

Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consult on policy matters with MSPs representing the Highlands and Islands prior to meetings of the Convention of the Highland and Islands.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Convention of the Highlands and Islands provides a forum in which organisations responsible for the delivery of services have the opportunity to discuss and debate the development of the Highlands and Islands. MSPs have this opportunity in the Scottish Parliament but are welcome to attend the convention as observers. The Executive will ask convention members to consider how convention papers can be made more widely available including to MSPs.

Highlands and Islands

Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what policy priorities it will ask the UHI PolicyWeb to investigate for the next meeting of the Convention of the Highlands and Islands.

Mr Jim Wallace: The agenda items for discussion at the next meeting of the Convention of the Highlands and Islands on 29 March 2004 have already been decided and were informed by proposals from convention members.

  In the future, convention members will play an increasing role in determining the agenda for meetings and in preparing and presenting convention papers. It will be for convention members to consider whether they wish to utilise the resources and research facilities that the emerging UHI Millennium Institute PolicyWeb will be able to offer.

Highlands and Islands

Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when, and at what venues, the Convention of the Highlands and Islands will meet in 2004.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Convention of the Highlands and Islands will meet at Brodick Castle, the Isle of Arran on 29 March 2004, and in Thurso in October 2004. Details of the venue and date for the October meeting are yet to be finalised.

Interception of Communications

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications for warrants have been made to the First Minister for the interception of telephone calls under the Interception of Communications Act 1985, broken down by source and category of application.

Cathy Jamieson: This information is not available in the format requested. Since 2 October 2000, applications for warrants for interception of communications have been made under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, which replaced the Interception of Communications Act 1985. The power to sign warrants under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 was executively devolved to the Scottish Ministers on 13 December 2000.

  Details of the number of interception warrants issued by the Scottish Ministers are contained in the annual reports of the Interception of Communication Commissioner, which are laid before the Parliament. The most recent annual report was laid before the Parliament on 9 September 2003, and copies were placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 29093).

Justice

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive Scottish Executive how much funding is currently allocated to the Procurators Fiscal Service for prosecuting environmental pollution offences.

Colin Boyd: The Procurator Fiscal Service budget to carry out all of its functions, including the prosecution of crime, is £88.793 million for 2003-04 and £89.151 million for 2004-05. Budgets are not ring-fenced in relation to the prosecution of particular types of offences.

Land Purchase

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to provide powers for communities to enable them to acquire land and empty, derelict properties by compulsory purchase for community benefits such as affordable housing and community halls or other facilities.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: No. The existing statutory powers already enable local authorities, acting in the public interest, to purchase land and property compulsorily for a variety of purposes.

Local Government

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied with local government complaints procedures.

Andy Kerr: Local government complaint procedures are a matter for individual councils. If the individual making the complaint is not satisfied with the outcome, it is open to them to approach the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman who can investigate complaints of maladministration or service failure.

National Health Service

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it shares the concerns of the Alliance of UK Health Regulators on Europe that doctors from Europe's 10 accession countries will no longer have to pass an English test in order to be registered to work in the UK from 1 May 2004, whereas doctors from America, New Zealand and Australia will still be tested and, if so, what measures it will take to ensure all registered doctors are language competent.

Malcolm Chisholm: Doctors who are European economic area nationals do not have to undertake an English language competency test in order to be registered with the General Medical Council (GMC). The law does not currently permit this. However, the NHS must ensure that all doctors they employ have the necessary knowledge of English to carry out their duties safely and may require a doctor to undertake a language assessment as part of the recruitment process, regardless of which country they come from.

National Health Service

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many consultant hours were worked in the NHS in each year since 1997, broken down by NHS board area.

Malcolm Chisholm: Information on the actual hours worked by consultants employed in NHSScotland is not available centrally.

National Health Service

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the cost of eye tests opticians recover annually from charges.

Mr Tom McCabe: NHS sight tests are free. There is therefore no charge recovered from the patient.

National Lottery Funding

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what level of national lottery funding has been, and is projected to be, received by Scotland in each of the (a) last five and (b) next three years and what comparable information it has on lottery funding for England and Wales.

Mr Frank McAveety: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has responsibility for National Lottery Funding. DCMS's database at www.lottery.culture.gov.uk gives figures for Lottery awards in Scotland as set out in the following table.

  

 

Number of Awards

£ million



1998-99

3,057

102



1999-2000

3,080

116



2000-01

2,153

93



2001-02

2,654

172



2002-03

3,381

163



  Scotland's future share of UK Lottery funds is expected to continue to be 8.9% for arts, 8.1% for sportscotland (excluding UK Sport) and 11.5% for Community Fund and New Opportunities Fund.

Organ Donation

John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what targets it has set the campaign "Organ Donation, Have you talked about it?" in respect of increasing the number of people registering on the NHS organ donor register.

Malcolm Chisholm: Evaluation is an essential element of all Executive advertising campaigns. While this is a long-term strategy designed to raise awareness and encourage positive attitudes to organ donation, we shall undertake research based on tracking attitudes and awareness before and after the campaign. Other measures will include assessing the number of names added to the NHS organ donor register.

Pollution

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what tests have been carried out, and how often, for the accumulation of toxic chemicals in (a) freshwater fish, (b) saltwater fish and (c) shellfish, in each of the last 10 years.

Allan Wilson: This is a matter for the Veterinary Medicines Directorate and the Food Standards Agency. The information is not held centrally.

Pollution

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what prosecutions there have been in respect of sewage pollution in the last five years and which companies were involved.

Colin Boyd: In the last five years 26 reports by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) under section 30 F of the Control of Pollution Act 1974, relating to pollution of controlled waters by sewage, have resulted in the conviction of the following companies:

  


Company

Convictions



North of Scotland Water Authority 

5



East of Scotland Water Authority 

1



West of Scotland Water Authority 

7



Scottish Water

9



Stirling Water Seafield Ltd 

2



DC Watson & Sons (Fenton Barns) Ltd

1



SLC Turnberry Ltd

1



  Details of prosecutions under other regulatory regimes or in cases reported by specialist reporting agencies other than SEPA could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Prescription Charges

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the outright abolition of NHS prescription charges is an option considered in the review of such charges.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Executive is committed to reviewing NHS prescription charges for people with chronic health conditions and young people in full-time education or training. We have no plans to remove NHS prescription charges in Scotland.

Rail Network

Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made, or plans to make, to ensure that funding is secured for the promised upgrade of the west coast mainline north of Crewe.

Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the Strategic Rail Authority on a wide range of issues, including the upgrade of the west coast main line.

Renewable Energy

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what levels of funding Scottish Coal has received for projects using biosolids.

Lewis Macdonald: Scottish Coal have received no public funds to date in respect of their proposals to produce biosolids. I understand that the company has made an application to the biomass capital grant scheme under the new and renewable energy programme managed by the Department of Trade and Industry.

Renewable Energy

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the criteria are for receiving funding for projects using biosolids.

Lewis Macdonald: Assistance to grow short rotation coppice as an energy crop is currently available under the woodland grant scheme and the new Scottish forestry grants scheme. Both schemes are managed by the forestry commission Scotland. Assistance is also available from the biomass capital grant scheme under the new and renewable energy programme, managed by the Department of Trade and Industry.

Roads

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the significance is of the figure of 2,950 for the design and construction of dual carriageway roads in the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges and whether that figure is a maximum number of vehicles which a dual carriageway is expected to bear or a minimum level of traffic flow which a trunk road comprising two lanes, one in each direction, must attain before it is eligible for consideration for upgrading to a dual carriageway.

Nicol Stephen: The figure of 2,950 vehicles per hour in the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges is the maximum one-way hourly flow capacity of a 6.75 metre wide urban dual carriageway road.

Roads

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-3977 by Nicol Stephen on 21 November 2003, whether it now anticipates that there will not be any significant increase in traffic volumes on ancillary roads as a result of the proposed online upgrade of the A80, in light of the traffic incident at Haggs Interchange on 18 February 2004 and the resultant congestion on ancillary roads surrounding Cumbernauld, and what the reasons are for the position on the matter.

Nicol Stephen: The recent incident required an unplanned temporary carriageway closure of the A80 for safety reasons during peak traffic hours. The proposed upgrade works will maintain two way, two lane traffic flows at peak times. This means that there will not be any significant increase in traffic volume on ancillary roads as a result of the planned works.

Schools

Margaret Mitchell (Central Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many local authority school closure applications involving schools with an occupancy level greater than 80% it has called in in (a) 1999, (b) 2000, (c) 2001, (d) 2002, (e) 2003 and (f) 2004, showing how many closures it approved in each year.

Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive does not call in such proposals. Education authorities are required by statute to seek the consent of the Scottish ministers to any proposal to close any school where the number of pupils in attendance is greater than 80% of the school's pupil capacity.

  The table gives the number of applications for consent under the 80% rule to the closure of schools received in the calendar years concerned.

  


Year

Number



1999

0



2000

2



2001

1



2002

1



2003

6



2004 to date

0



  Consent was given in all cases in which decisions have been made. Three of the six 2003 cases were received late in the year and are currently under consideration.

Tourism

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what data about visitors to Scotland visitscotland.com has been made available to (a) it, (b) visitscotland and (c) subscribing tourist businesses, in light of the statement made by visitscotland.com that the main benefit of directing traffic to the booking centre is the capture of data about visitors to Scotland.

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether visitscotland.com will publish data it has collected about visitors to Scotland.

Mr Frank McAveety: Visitscotland.com does not provide data to the Scottish Executive, nor to tourism businesses directly; rather data is provided to VisitScotland and the 13 area tourist boards that are partners in the company. Data provided includes an analysis of VisitScotland marketing campaigns by market, customer group and product group. In addition, data extractions according to specified requirements can be provided that includes establishing trend data on how tourists plan their holidays. Data provided is intended to assist VisitScotland to focus its marketing activity and assist strategic decision making. As such, it would be of limited relevance to businesses themselves. Nonetheless, once sufficient data has been collated, it will be published on scotexchange.net.

Tourism

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of visitscotland.com's bookings are made (a) to its call centre and (b) via email, giving also (i) number and (ii) value of bookings.

Mr Frank McAveety: This is an operational matter for visitscotland.com.

Tourism

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the origins are of all (a) enquiries and (b) bookings made to visitscotland.com, broken down by country of origin.

Mr Frank McAveety: This is an operational matter for visitscotland.com.

Tourism

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when visitscotland.com first became aware of any problems AOL users had in accessing the website and what action it took to remedy the situation.

Mr Frank McAveety: Visitscotland.com became aware of the problems experienced by AOL users approximately four months ago. Visitscotland.com worked closely with AOL to identify the source of the problem. It was established that the problem was one of compatibility between the configuration used by visitscotland.com and that used by AOL (although both were industry approved). A solution has now been found, involving a reconfiguration of the visitscotland.com technical infrastructure.

Transport

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will allocate further funding to cover any additional capital costs, should the capital cost of Edinburgh's tram lines 1 and 2 exceed the £375 million it has currently allocated.

Nicol Stephen: The Executive committed £375 million to Edinburgh's tram network last March. Any additional funding is a matter for Transport Initiatives Edinburgh and Edinburgh City Council.

Transport

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether additional funding has been allocated to Transport Initiatives Edinburgh to fund a study trip to Lyon and, if so, how much has been allocated and from which budget.

Nicol Stephen: There has been no additional funding allocated to Transport Initiatives Edinburgh to fund a study trip to Lyon.

Transport

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-3978 by Nicol Stephen on 19 December 2003, what monitoring systems are in place in relation to the usage of the feeder bus service from Cumbernauld and how many passengers have used the service since its inception, broken down by month and time of day.

Nicol Stephen: The operation of the feeder bus service is the responsibility of Strathclyde Passenger Transport (SPT). SPT have various procedures in place for monitoring all of its contracted bus services.

  The Croy Interlink services commenced operating on 29 September 2002; from the information supplied to SPT by the contractor the use of the service has been as follows. For the 72 weeks up to 21 February 2004, the average number of passengers for Sundays (when a reduced service operates) was 28 (total 1992), for Mondays 101 (total 7,268), for Tuesdays 111 (total 7,965), for Wednesdays 118 (total 8,489), for Thursdays 100 (total 7,186), for Fridays 119 (total 8,537), and for Saturdays 84 (total 6,051). The overall total number of passengers carried since the service started has therefore been 47,488.

  From the information available, it is not possible to break these figures down into different time periods for each day.

Vaccines

Cathy Peattie (Falkirk East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to primary care services providing carers with free influenza vaccination at a local GP surgery.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation advises UK Health Departments on issues relating to vaccination and immunisation, based on currently available scientific evidence.

  The committee is currently considering whether carers should be brought within the groups recommended for immunisation against influenza.

Water Fluoridation

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish proposals regarding the fluoridation of the water supply.

Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-5804 on 9 February 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .